


All she feels now

by orangedice



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: 7x06, Gen, Missing Scene, Rescue Missions, mack's too sad to help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25513135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orangedice/pseuds/orangedice
Summary: May flies to find Daisy and Sousa and feels, what, exactly? A missing scene from the end of 7x06 "Adapt or Die" that explores May's (non-)emotional landscape.
Relationships: Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 69





	All she feels now

**Author's Note:**

> This last season is going to murder me.

"Mack, May," Simmons voice cracks over comms. "We're getting seismic activity inland about 30 miles from the Lighthouse..."

"Faultline?" May asks.

"No, nowhere near. We think it's Daisy." Even miles away, May can hear the relief in Simmons' voice.

"Okay," May answers. She glances over her shoulder where Mack sits, staring, unseeing, at the space where the Chronicom imposters had been. Elena clasps his hand, silent. Her head leans on his shoulder. "We're on our way there. Where are you?" May asks, already altering course.

"We're still trying to repair the Time Drive but we'll try to meet you partway there. Sending you coordinates to the epicenter." A pause. "Hurry."

May doesn't need empathic abilities to sense the worry.

* * *

She spots the collapsed barn first and knows she should be afraid that Daisy is buried under there. But then she sights a speck of white moving towards a line of trees.

"I see them!" she shouts over her shoulder. "Hang on!" She punches the controls forward, a fast spiraling turn to intercept their path. Sousa squints up at the sky as massive winds buffet him. "Yo-yo, I'm gonna need you to open the ramp--" Wheels down. The quinjet shudders. "Now!"

She throws the commset off her head, leaps out of her chair to run to Daisy. Sousa continues toward the plane, though she's not sure how he's even still upright. "What happened?" she shouts. The quinjet continues to roar behind them. Daisy is ashen, almost lifeless, and May feels, almost feels--

Sousa staggers, and she catches his fall.

 _Resolve._ Get her home. Get her safe.

 _Pride._ Daisy's a fighter. She'll make it.

May wraps an arm around Sousa's waist and shoves her shoulder into his side to prop him up.

 _Duty._ The war, the evil, the harm never ends, does it?

 _Care._ More important than duty. Worth fighting for. Family. Friends.

He's steadier now, though his leg shakes about ready to collapse again.

 _Relief._ Relief that it wasn't him. Guilt that he feels that way.

He struggles to take a step. She almost follows him to the ground.

 _Fear._ Even the strongest fighter can't live through that, can she?

May grunts and grits her teeth as she pushes him up.

 _Hope._ Growing, as they near safety.

"Mack, Daisy's hurt. You have to help!" Yo-yo yells into the quinjet as she runs down the ramp.

May looks up, curses at Mack. He isn't coming. She gives Sousa one last supportive push up, then slips her arms between his and Daisy's body.

She doesn't feel.

That pit in her stomach--empty, so empty.

She almost staggers but grits her teeth as she carries Daisy the remaining yards to the quinjet. Yo-yo reaches Sousa before he collapses again.

"Malick--the younger one--" Sousa starts. He winces with each step. He collapses onto the floor, not even bothering with the seat. May gently places Daisy beside him, tries not to jostle any of her bandages. "He said he took almost all her blood, her spinal fluid," he gasps. "He wants her Inhuman powers."

"Bastard!" Yo-yo says. "Isn't that what Whitehall did to her mom?" May nods curtly. She pulls down the first aid kit--the best they can do until they can get back to the Zephyr, hands it to Yo-yo and Sousa. He drags himself closer to Daisy. May punches the button to raise the quinjet's ramp and stalks up to the cockpit.

All she feels now is that vast emptiness in the pit of her stomach, almost soul deep. It should be filled with fear. And rage.

Instead, she brings up comms again. "Zephyr One, this is May. Prepare the healing chamber."

Deke is the one who responds. "You found her? Thank goodness. I'll tell Jemma," he says.

May grits her teeth. She sets the new coordinates, looks back. Sousa works on cleaning and bandaging Daisy's palm. Yo-yo sits by, fingers on Daisy's wrist, checking her pulse, and looks grim.

May turns back towards the controls. "We're on our way."


End file.
